We demonstrate a method for fabricating a variety of nanostructured metallic thin films by using one simple approach based on the use of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane as masking template. Highly-ordered large-area metallic nanoporeor nanotip-arrays (e.g., Ni, Ag, Au), with various sizes and shapes, were deposited onto AAO membranes through e-beam evaporation. Free standing nano-patterned...

The dependences of the protective properties anodic oxide coatings on AD31 aluminum alloy surface modified with nitrates magnesium, potassium, and some 3d-elements composition sealing solutions parameters finishing treatment were established by scanning electron microscopy, potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, salt spray chamber tests. A mechanism formation duri...

The array of numerous metallic nanowires with straight shape has much attention due to their shape anisotropy and extremely large surface area. This unique structure can be applied to develop the novel functional nano-materials such as electronic, magnetic and optical nano-scale devices. Metallic nanowires can be fabricated by manipulating metallic atoms one by one using a scanning tunneling mi...

A study on the chemical stability of anodic alumina membranes and their performance in long-term water and organic solvent permeation experiments is reported. Anodic alumina possesses high stability for both protonic and aprotonic organic solvents. However, serious degradation of the membrane occurs in pure water, leading to a drastic decrease of permeance (over 20% of the initial value after t...

Instead of investigating the quantum effect that influences the absorption band edge of TiO2 nanostructures, herein we report that geometrical parameters can also be utilized to manipulate the optical band gap of the TiO2 nanotube arrays. Hexagonal arrays of TiO2 nanotubes with an excellent crystalline quality were fabricated by techniques combining anodic aluminum oxide templates and atomic la...

Arrays of small-diameter nanoparticles with high spatial order are useful for chemical and biological sensors, data storage, synthesis of nanowires and nanotubes, and many other applications. We show that self-ordered metal nanoparticle arrays can be formed by dewetting of thin films on hexagonal mesh substrates made of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO). Upon heating, the metal (Fe) film dewets onto ...

We present a simple, efficient, and high-throughput methodology for the fabrication of ordered nanoporous polymeric surfaces with areas in the range of cm(2). The procedure is based on a two-stage replication of a master nanostructured pattern. The process starts with the preparation of an ordered array of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) free-standing nanopillars by wetting self-ordered porous...

Continuous and uniform carbon nanofilms (CNFs) are prepared by pyrolysis of polyimide films which are produced by molecular layer deposition (MLD). The film thickness can be easily controlled at nanometer scale by altering the cycle numbers. During the annealing process at 600 °C, the polyimide film is subject to shrinkage of 70% in thickness. The obtained CNFs do not exhibit a well-graphitized...

Sulfur has a high specific capacity of 1673 mAh/g as lithium battery cathodes, but its rapid capacity fading due to polysulfides dissolution presents a significant challenge for practical applications. Here we report a hollow carbon nanofiber-encapsulated sulfur cathode for effective trapping of polysulfides and demonstrate experimentally high specific capacity and excellent electrochemical cyc...

Oxidation of solid metal nanoobjects is a versatile approach to generating hollow metal oxide nanostructures. The mechanism for the solid-to-hollow conversions has been attributed to the Kirkendall effect, which describes an unbalanced interdiffusion of a thermal diffusion couple. When a metal nanoobject is exposed to oxygen at elevated temperatures, the outward diffusion of the metal cations i...